HD WorldCup Recs
May. 7th, 2008 05:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ravenna_c_tanSome recs from HD Worldcup!
I have not read everything in the fest, not by a long shot, but there have been a few stories I really enjoyed. Overall, there's not been enough sex for my taste in this fest overall, but I've really enjoyed several pieces anyway.
Also, more than half the art's really worth looking at, and not time consuming, so just go and look. Whereas the fics? OMG, they are all really long! It's like the Fest of Novellas and Novelettes! So many are 15K or longer, it's amazing.
I liked more than just these, but these are the ones I recommend the most wholeheartedly. I also notice comments have fallen WAY off the past few weeks now that Snarry Games and some other fests are going on, so I've listed these more recent stories first. Lots of them really deserve notice, but it's clear stuff in the first 2 weeks got read by like 3x as many people...
PERFECT DAY (H/D, R), Wheel of Fortune, Team Canon
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_worldcup/22049.html
Post-DH fic at its best. Draco and his family are at the nadir of their lives. He decides his best recourse is a dose of Felix Felicis, and the "Perfect Day" that ensues is by turns hilarious, hair-raising, and moving. One of the best encapsulations of canon loose ends I've ever seen, and just a really well done story.
RING A RING'O ROSES (H/D, NC-17) The Tower, Team Canon
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_worldcup/14003.html
This might still get my vote for absolute best story in the fest. There's a mystery to be solved--who murdered several very important characters? And much post-DH angst to work through. A cracking good plot and the one fic I've read post-DH that evokes the same urgency and sense of danger as the books in the JKR series themselves.
S. MORGENSTERN'S THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (H/D, PG), The Moon, Team Canon
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_worldcup/21192.html
This is the fic that probably generated the most debate, because it requires the reader to actually activate her literary analysis brain in order to understand and appreciate it. For many people, that's the opposite of what they are used to in fic, and may be the opposite of what they WANT or LIKE in fic. (A few of the comments it received seemed downright churlish that the author dared to make them interpret the story instead of handing them a pat explanation as part of the text! I, on the other hand, completely loved it for exactly that.)
THE HERMIT (H/D, NC-17), The Hermit, Team Canon
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_worldcup/24221.html
One of the few stories in the fest that had enough sex for me. I'm a sucker for Gryffindor!harry being the more sexually adventurous one, and all the better when he has a heroic reason for suggesting it... Draco has become an agoraphobic recluse, but Harry needs his help. And Draco needs Harry's help. Add in a mysterious curse and off you go.
STILL LIFE IN WOOD AND PARCHMENT (H/D, NC-17), Strength, Team Canon
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_worldcup/17993.html#cutid1
An epistolary tale (that is, one told in correspondence) that is wonderfully crafted, very moving, and also one of the shortest ones in the fest! Albus Severus and Scorpius are determined to learn their fathers' secrets.
PRECIOUS THINGS (H/D. NC-17) The Tower, Team Fanon
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_worldcup/14842.html#cutid1
It's team fanon, so don't be shocked by the "I'm here, I'm queer" Harry in leather pants and mesh shirt. But the story isn't total crack--it's got some really moving moments and real emotional punch. Scorpius is kidnapped, Harry is brought in on the case...
BETTER THE DEVIL YOU KNOW (MEHEN), (H/D, NC-17) The Devil, Team Epilogue
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_worldcup/8573.html
This one has some fascinating post-DH stuff in it, in which Harry discovers his guilt over all the people who have died is alleviated when an initially antagonistic Draco uses a spell to carve their names into his skin.
BROTHER, CONFESSOR, LOVER, REDEEMER (H/D, R) Judgment, Team Canon
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_worldcup/4657.html
Postwar, Harry retreats into a funky Muggle neighborhood of London where he encounters some surprising people. Epilogue compliant.
I have not read everything in the fest, not by a long shot, but there have been a few stories I really enjoyed. Overall, there's not been enough sex for my taste in this fest overall, but I've really enjoyed several pieces anyway.
Also, more than half the art's really worth looking at, and not time consuming, so just go and look. Whereas the fics? OMG, they are all really long! It's like the Fest of Novellas and Novelettes! So many are 15K or longer, it's amazing.
I liked more than just these, but these are the ones I recommend the most wholeheartedly. I also notice comments have fallen WAY off the past few weeks now that Snarry Games and some other fests are going on, so I've listed these more recent stories first. Lots of them really deserve notice, but it's clear stuff in the first 2 weeks got read by like 3x as many people...
PERFECT DAY (H/D, R), Wheel of Fortune, Team Canon
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_worldcup/22049.html
Post-DH fic at its best. Draco and his family are at the nadir of their lives. He decides his best recourse is a dose of Felix Felicis, and the "Perfect Day" that ensues is by turns hilarious, hair-raising, and moving. One of the best encapsulations of canon loose ends I've ever seen, and just a really well done story.
RING A RING'O ROSES (H/D, NC-17) The Tower, Team Canon
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_worldcup/14003.html
This might still get my vote for absolute best story in the fest. There's a mystery to be solved--who murdered several very important characters? And much post-DH angst to work through. A cracking good plot and the one fic I've read post-DH that evokes the same urgency and sense of danger as the books in the JKR series themselves.
S. MORGENSTERN'S THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (H/D, PG), The Moon, Team Canon
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_worldcup/21192.html
This is the fic that probably generated the most debate, because it requires the reader to actually activate her literary analysis brain in order to understand and appreciate it. For many people, that's the opposite of what they are used to in fic, and may be the opposite of what they WANT or LIKE in fic. (A few of the comments it received seemed downright churlish that the author dared to make them interpret the story instead of handing them a pat explanation as part of the text! I, on the other hand, completely loved it for exactly that.)
THE HERMIT (H/D, NC-17), The Hermit, Team Canon
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_worldcup/24221.html
One of the few stories in the fest that had enough sex for me. I'm a sucker for Gryffindor!harry being the more sexually adventurous one, and all the better when he has a heroic reason for suggesting it... Draco has become an agoraphobic recluse, but Harry needs his help. And Draco needs Harry's help. Add in a mysterious curse and off you go.
STILL LIFE IN WOOD AND PARCHMENT (H/D, NC-17), Strength, Team Canon
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_worldcup/17993.html#cutid1
An epistolary tale (that is, one told in correspondence) that is wonderfully crafted, very moving, and also one of the shortest ones in the fest! Albus Severus and Scorpius are determined to learn their fathers' secrets.
PRECIOUS THINGS (H/D. NC-17) The Tower, Team Fanon
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_worldcup/14842.html#cutid1
It's team fanon, so don't be shocked by the "I'm here, I'm queer" Harry in leather pants and mesh shirt. But the story isn't total crack--it's got some really moving moments and real emotional punch. Scorpius is kidnapped, Harry is brought in on the case...
BETTER THE DEVIL YOU KNOW (MEHEN), (H/D, NC-17) The Devil, Team Epilogue
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_worldcup/8573.html
This one has some fascinating post-DH stuff in it, in which Harry discovers his guilt over all the people who have died is alleviated when an initially antagonistic Draco uses a spell to carve their names into his skin.
BROTHER, CONFESSOR, LOVER, REDEEMER (H/D, R) Judgment, Team Canon
http://community.livejournal.com/hd_worldcup/4657.html
Postwar, Harry retreats into a funky Muggle neighborhood of London where he encounters some surprising people. Epilogue compliant.
